I'm looking for an Elder Care Attorney in Southern California to make sure all of mom's trust paperwork is in order, she has advanced Alzheimers. I've seen numerous posts on this site saying "Find an attorney that will give a free consultation".
So, I went to NELF (National Elder Law Foundation) and called all the local EC attorneys and the minimum consult is $425-$750 for an hour.
I would be okay spending the money (mom's) but would prefer a free consult and a recommendation from here would be great!
Fingers crossed someone on this wonderful site has an experienced, trusted EC in So. Cal. to recommend.
You will not find an attorney that will go over paperwork for free, just is not going to happen. It's more general information and guidance. I found that using a certified elder law attorney was far cheaper because it is what they are doing everyday, they have taken the effort to get certified, so you are not paying for their education.
The original trust was prepared by an attorney referred to my dad by a fellow Rotary member years ago. I've also always been one to look for a referral when doing business. This can be good and bad as sometimes I procrastinate without having a sure thing.
An attorney might give general advice and overviews, but I don't think any would agree to review documents prepared by another attorney, especially w/o compensation.
Put yourself in their place: what's in it for them?
We thought we could do this 'alone' but when we got down to the nitty gritty, our attorney had so many ideas and ways we could save our kids grief and such when we pass if we did things a certain way. Ways to avoid inheritance taxes, what we wanted for final wishes, etc. We would never have known.
My son is an attorney, asking him to give an hour of his time for 'advice' is basically denying him his income. He will happily give you 15 minutes, but that's about it. He won't even give me, his MOTHER, more than 15 minutes w/o saying he'll be billing me.
You just may get a recommend from someone living in So Cal in your private messages of an attorney one of us used and were happy with.
Good luck, and how great that you are getting everything together so well. As you will read here, so many problems occur because the business wasn't handled and things were no spoken of before the storm hit.
If you have someone you really recommend, you will be in a position to Private Message another with your same question in future if you like, but I am guessing that names and phone numbers are not even allowed in our conversation pages, just because it does SEEM like advertising.
Admins may weigh in as to whether my guess is right or wrong.
If your mom has advanced Alzheimer's, she's not competent to make any changes, so if you need to make major changes, it'll cost $$$.
Don't expect a free consultation -- that's how attorneys make their living. Just bite the bullet and find one of the less expensive attorneys to go over her paperwork, or you might be able to have a paralegal check it for less.